Cutting means

ABSTRACT

A cutter for cutting labels as they move off a printing press without using shear. The cutter includes means for operating the cutter bar to separate labels singly or into groups. The cutter includes a movable die which is moved into and out of cutting relation with the label paper by means of a pair of eccentrically actuated links in order to apply uniform cutting pressure over the entire head of the movable die.

ilited States Patent [191 Ottavan [451 May 15, 1973 CUTTING MEANS [75] Inventor: Gerald Ottavan, Ridgefield, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Allamatic Park,N.J.

[22] Filed: June 15, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 46,426

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 736,768, June 13, 1968, Pat. No.

Corporation, Cliffside [52] U.S. Cl. ..83/572, 83/582, 83/590, 83/627, 83/658 [51] Int. Cl. ..B26d 5/16 [58] Field of Search ..83/571513, 582, 583,

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Hanggi ..83/627 x 552,710 1/1896 Jefferies ..83/627 X 2,339,456 1/1944 Budlong ..83/572 1,653,979 12/1927 Bataille ..83/571 X 1,485,886 3/1924 Russell ..83/658 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 741,044 11/1955 Great Britain ..83/658 301,937 11/1917 Germany 1,104,390 2/1968 Great Britain ..83/658 Primary ExaminerJ. M. Meister Attorneyl-lubbell, Cohen & Stiefel [57] ABSTRACT A cutter for cutting labels as they move off a printing press without using shear. The cutter includes means for operating the cutter bar to separate labels singly or into groups. The cutter includes a movable die which is moved into and out of cutting relation with the label paper by means of a pair of eccentrically actuated links in order to apply uniform cutting pressure over the entire head of the movable die.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED MAY 1 51973 F I6, I.

SOL.

I T50l SOL.

INVENTOR GERALD J. OTTAVAN ATTRNEYS.

QUG ANS This application is a division of my co-pending application filed June 13, 1968, now Patent No. 3,567,148.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to cutter means for cutting adhesive backed printed labels after the printing of such labels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention lies in a transverse cutter which cleaves the labels rather than shearing them. Means are provided for operating the cutter to separate the labels singly or in groups.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an end elevational view of the cutter of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the drive mechanism of the cutter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to FIGS. 1 and 3, cutter 24 includes a transverse support member or cross piece 450 which is fixed to a fixed frame 62. Depending from member 450 is a pair of bolts having nuts 453 at their bottoms. The nuts 451 pass through apertures 455 in an underlying support plate 457 which is not connected to the cross piece 450 but does support an aluminum block 461 which aluminum block underlies a knife blade 454. When the knife blade is moved downwardly in a manner to be disclosed hereinafter, it will cut through the paper 14 underlying it and impinge against the relative soft aluminum block 4361. The shock of the engagement of the knife blade 454 with the block 461 is taken up by means of the underlying support 457 for the aluminum block 461 and the spring biasing mechanism made up of the spring 458, the nut 453 and the bolt 451. Thus the aluminum block will move downwardly under force of the knife blade 454 whereby to reduce the amount of impact of the knife blade on the aluminum block and thereby preserve the knife blade. Inclusion of the aluminum block is desirable because it is relatively soft as contrasted with the knife blade made of hard steel. After repeated operations, the knife blade will cause a slight groove or depression to appear in the aluminum block 461 whereby to yield a perfectly complementary surface for the knife blade in the aluminum block and thereby give a long lasting clean cutting mechanism which is practically maintenance free.

The knife blade 454 is removably carried in a clamp mechanism 456 that is carried by a vertically reciprocally movable plate 458. Disposed at the ends of the plate 458 are a pair of cylindrical bushings 460 and 462 each of which has passing therethrough a circular rod or shaft 464 and 466,'respectively, whereby to vertically movably mount the plate 455 and its knife 454.

.Underlying bushings 460 and 462 in surrounding relation with the vertical shaft 464 and are a pair of compression springs 468 and 470,- respectively, which springs bias the bushings .460 and 462 and their intervening plate 458 upwardly for reasons to become apparent hereinafter.

As will be seen in FIG. 16, the plate 458 is actually formed of two spaced apart plates 472 and 474 which are secured to one another by the bushings 460 and 2. Disposed in the space 476 between the plates 472 and 474 are a pair of rollers 478 and 456 which serve as cam followers in a manner to become apparent hereinafter. Specifically it will be seen that the rollers 478 and are in engagement with the high points 482 and of frustro-conical camming means 486 and 488, respectively, which camming means, as will be seen hereinafter, are shiftable horizontally whereby to move the low portions 499 and 492 thereof into engagement with the rollers 478 and 480, respectively, to thereby move the rollers downwardly and hence move the plate 458 and the knife 454 downwardly against the bias of the springs 468 and 47. This downward movement will cause the blade 454 to move into the groove 452 and thereby cause a cutting action as will become apparent.

Specifically, both frustro-conical camming means 486 and are secured to a horizontal shaft 494 which shaft is slidably disposed in a slot 496 in a central bearing piece 495 to permit the horizontal movement of the shaft 454. Bearing piece 498 depends from upper cross piece 5% that is secured to the upper ends of the shafts and 468 as by screws 502. Rotatably mounted on a cross piece 5 are a second pair of rollers 502 and 504, which rollers are also in engagement with the frustro-conical camming means 486 and 488. It will be obvious to anyone skilled in the art that as the springs 468 and 470 push the plate $58 upwardly whereby to push the rollers 478 and 480mm engagement with the camming means 486 and 488, respectively, there will be a biasing force on the shaft 494 in the leftward direction as viewed in FIG. 1, whereby to hold the shaft normally in a position with the low points of the camming means in engagement with the four rollers. I

Means are provided for moving the shaft 494 in a rightward direction against the bias of the springs 468 and 4170 whereby to depress the knife 454 and cause a cutting action. Specifically, a vertically extending portion 5% of a T-shaped lever 5118 that is pivoted at 510 acts to shift the shaft 494 to the right when the lever 508 is pivoted in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1. Pivoting action is accomplished by fixing the lever 58 to an oscillating link 512 so that the lever 508 will swing with the link 512. This is accomplished in accordance with the present invention by providing at the right hand end of the link 512, that is the end of the link 512 to the right of its fulcrum 516, an upstanding part 518 which has a horizontally cantilevered member 5241 secured thereto in spaced relation vw'th the upper surface of the right hand end of the link 512. pivoted on lever 5t18 is a member 522 having an end thereof which is movable into and out of the space 524 between the member 520 and the right hand end of the link 514. When the member 522 is disposed between the member 525 and the upper end of the link 512, it fills the space 524 and thereby locks the lever 508to the link 512 to cause the lever 508 to pivot with the right hand end of the link 512. Thus motion is im ported to the member 508 and hence to its vertically extending part 506 which motion will cause the part 506 t0 move to the right and thereby force the shaft 4 to the right. However, when the member 522 is not disposed in the space 524, the link 512 will pivot back and forth in a manner to be described hereinafter and this pivotal movement will not be imparted to the T- shaped lever 508-and the latter will remain stationary whereby to cause the shaft 494 to remain stationary. The link 512 is oscillated by securing it in a pivotal manner as at 526 to a downwardly extending link 528 which is eccentrically connected as at 530 to a disc 532 secured to the rotating shaft 68. Accordingly, as shaft 68 rotates link 528 will move upwardly and downwardly under the eccentric action of the connection 530 whereby to oscillate the link 512 upwardly and downwardly from its solid to its dotted line positions and thereby to cause the right hand end thereof to swing as previously described.

Two separate means are provided for holding the member 522 in the space 524 to cause the member 508 to oscillate in response to the oscillation of the link 512. The first of these is a manual means wherein the member 522 is manually swung into the space 524 and a thumb screw 525 is operated to clamp the member 522 in this position whereby to cause the T-shaped lever 508 to move up and down with each movement of the link 512. Such an arrangement will cause the knife to operate once per rotation of the shaft 68 which rotation represents the printing of one label. Accordingly, if manual means is effected as just described, the labels will be cut in groupings of one.

A second means for operating the member 522 to cause the T-shaped member 508 to move the shaft 494 to the right is provided. This second means is arranged to permit such action on multiples of one rotation of shaft 68 whereby to cause an operation of the knife mechanism 24 on multiples of such rotation of shaft 68 to cut labels in groupings of more than one, namely two, three, four, etc. This is accomplished by means of a solenoid 534 having a normally extended armature member 536 which armature member is pivotally connected to the member 522. When the solenoid is energized the armature member 536 will move to the right as viewed in FIG. 1 whereby to pivot the member 522 about its pivot point to cause the upper end thereof as viewed in FIG. 3 to move into the space 524 and thereby lock the link 512 to the T-shaped member 508 to swing the T-shaped member as previously described. However, there is no requirement that the solenoid be energized once per revolution of the shaft 68.

In accordance with a feature of the present inventlon, the solenoid is operated by a switch that is disposed within a reduction gearing mechanism 540 that is'driven off the main shaft 68 through gearing including a gear 542 and a gear 544 that is secured to the lower shaft of the slitter 22. A dial and pointer on the face of the reduction gearing is calibrated so that it can be set to have an output ratio of 1:1, 1:2, up to perhaps 1:10. Fixed to the output shaft of the reduction gearing 540 is a switch operating member (not shown) which operates the switch once per revolution of the output shaft. As the output shaft can be set to operate at speeds which are integral reciprocals of the speed of the input shaft 68, the switch will operate in multiples of rotation of the shaft 68. Each time the switch is closed, the solenoid 534 is energized to move the member 522 into the space 524 to cause a rocking motion of the T-shaped member 508 whereby to depress the knife blade 454, In this manner the knife blade can be caused to operate to cut the labels not only in groupings of one at a time but in groupings of two, three, four, etc., up to groups of ten at a time.

In view of the fact that the cutter must cut in between labels, its position along the frame 62 may be critical. Accordingly, the cutter 24 is transversely adjustable on the frame 62 which adjustment is accomplished by means of a rack 546 fixed to the frame 62 and a pinion 548 fixed to the transverse support 450 but which pinion may be rotated by means of a crank 549 whereby to move the entire transverse cutter 24 forward and back to properly align it for cutting in between labels.

While I have herein shown and described the preferred form of the present invention and have suggested modifications therein, other changes and modifications may be made rather than within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for cutting a longitudinally extending strip of paper transversely thereof, comprising:

a. a base,

b. a transversely extending knife blade,

c. a transversely extending block beneath said knife blade,

d. yieldable support means for mounting said transversely extending block on said base, and

e. means for moving said knife blade into and out of engagement with said block including a transversely extending longitudnially movable elongated member, an cam and cam follower means operatively connected to said knife blade and said elongated member for moving said knife blade toward and away from said transversely extending block in response to longitudinal movement of said elongated member, means for moving said elongated member longitudnially spring means for biasing said blade upwardly whereby to bias said elongated member to a first position, a pivotally mounted member in operative engagement with said elongated member, said pivotally mounted member being movable from and to a first position in which said elongated member is in its first position and to and from a second position for moving said elongated member into and out of a second position for moving said knife blade into engagement with said transversely extending block and means for pivotally moving said pivotally mounted member including a reciprocably movable member, and movable means for operatively connecting said reciprocably movable member to said pivotally movable member and for operatively disconnecting it therefrom.

2. The cutting means of claim 1, and further comprising a solenoid for moving said last mentioned movable means, and switch means for energizing said solenoid.

3. The cutting means of claim 2, further comprising means for operating said switch means including a speed reduction mechanism. 

1. Means for cutting a longitudinally extending strip of paper transversely thereof, comprising: a. a base, b. a transversely extending knife blade, c. a transversely extending block beneath said knife blade, d. yieldable support means for mounting said transversely extending block on said base, and e. means for moving said knife blade into and out of engagement with said block including a transversely extending longitudnially movable elongated member, an cam and cam follower means operatively connected to said knife blade and said elongated member for moving said knife blade toward and away from said transversely extending block in response to longitudinal movement of said elongated member, means for moving said elongated member longitudnially spring means for biasing said blade upwardly whereby to bias said elongated member to a first position, a pivotally mounted member in operative engagement with said elongated member, said pivotally mounted member being movable from and to a first position in which said elongated member is in its first position and to and from a second position for moving said elongated member into and out of a second position for moving said knife blade into engagement with said transversely extending block and means for pivotally moving said pivotally mounted member including a reciprocably movable member, and movable means for operatively connecting said reciprocably movable member to said pivotally movable member and for operatively disconnecting it therefrom.
 2. The cutting means of claim 1, and further comprising a solenoid for moving said last mentioned movable means, and switch means for energizing said solenoid.
 3. The cutting means of claim 2, further comprising means for operating said switch means including a speed reduction mechanism. 